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December 1995 Revision 10 JPO# 95-432 The CERT(sm) Coordination Center FAQ ======================================================================= = Preface = ======================================================================= This document is intended to answer the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the CERT Coordination Center. The FAQ is a dynamic document that will change as information changes. Suggestions for additional sections are welcome -- please email them to cert@cert.org. The most recent copy of this FAQ is available from ftp://info.cert.org/pub/ http://www.sei.cmu.edu/technology/cert.cc.html Questions answered in this document A. Introduction to the CERT Coordination Center A1. What is the CERT Coordination Center? A2. How do I contact the CERT Coordination Center? A3. Where can I find online information about the CERT Coordination Center? A4. What's in the CERT Coordination Center name? B. Where to go for information B1. What is a CERT advisory? B2. Where can I obtain archived CERT advisories? B3. Can I obtain source code to a patch described in a CERT advisory? B4. What other alerts does the CERT Coordination Center publish? B5. What mailing lists does the CERT Coordination Center offer? B6. What information is available via anonymous FTP from the CERT Coordination Center? B7. What presentations, workshops, and seminars does the CERT Coordination Center offer? B8. Where can I get information about firewalls? B9. Where can I get information about viruses? B10 What other online information sources does the CERT Coordination Center recommend? B11. What books or articles does the CERT Coordination Center recommend? C. Incident Response C1. What kind of information should I provide to the CERT Coordination Center when my site has experienced an intrusion? ======================================================================= = Section A. Introduction to the CERT Coordination Center = ======================================================================= A1. What is the CERT Coordination Center? The CERT Coordination Center is the organization that grew from the computer emergency response team formed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in November 1988 in response to the needs exhibited during the Internet worm incident. The CERT charter is to work with the Internet community to facilitate its response to computer security events involving Internet hosts, to take proactive steps to raise the community's awareness of computer security issues, and to conduct research targeted at improving the security of existing systems. CERT products and services include 24-hour technical assistance for responding to computer security incidents, product vulnerability assistance, technical documents, and seminars. In addition, the team maintains a number of mailing lists (including one for CERT advisories) and provides an anonymous FTP server, info.cert.org, where security-related documents, CERT advisories, and tools are archived. A2. How do I contact the CERT Coordination Center? U.S. mail address CERT Coordination Center Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 U.S.A. Internet email address cert@cert.org Telephone number +1 412-268-7090 (24-hour hotline) CERT Coordination Center personnel answer 8:30 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. EST(GMT-5)/EDT(GMT-4), on call for emergencies during other hours. FAX number +1 412-268-6989 Warning: When sending sensitive information by email, please use encryption. The CERT public PGP key is available from ftp://info.cert.org/pub/CERT_PGP.key If you prefer to use DES, please call the CERT hotline to exchange DES keys over the phone. A3. Where can I find online information about the CERT Coordination Center? Online information about our work, along with advisories, technical tips, and other security information is available from ftp://info.cert.org/pub/ http://www.sei.cmu.edu/technology/cert.cc.html A4. What's in the CERT name? Since its beginning in 1988, the CERT Coordination Center has acquired its name through an evolutionary process. Because of this, you may see the CERT Coordination Center referred to by several different names. You may hear us called Computer Emergency Response Team, or just CERT, but our proper name is the CERT Coordination Center. CERT(sm) is a service mark of Carnegie Mellon University and should not be expanded into an acronym definition or used as a stand-alone noun. The CERT email address has undergone a similar evolution. We use the email address cert@cert.org Any references to cert@cert.sei.cmu.edu or cert@sei.cmu.edu should be changed to the current address, which is cert@cert.org ======================================================================= = Section B. Where To Go for Information = ======================================================================= B1. What is a CERT advisory? A CERT advisory is a document that provides information on how to obtain a patch or details of a workaround for a known computer security problem. The CERT Coordination Center works with vendors to produce a workaround or a patch for a problem, and does not publish vulnerability information until a workaround or a patch is available. A CERT advisory may also be a warning to our constituency about ongoing attacks (e.g., "CA-95:18.widespread.attacks"). CERT advisories are published on the USENET newsgroup comp.security.announce and are distributed via the cert-advisory mailing list. Both publication methods are described below. B2. Where can I obtain archived CERT advisories? CERT advisories are available from ftp://info.cert.org/pub/cert_advisories/ The CA-xx:xx.README file associated with each advisory contains updates we receive after the advisory has been released. The "01-README" file provides a short summary of each advisory. At the following URL, you can search the advisory list as well as link to the FTP archive. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/technology/cert.cc.html B3. Can I get source code to a patch described in a CERT advisory? The CERT Coordination Center does not provide source-level patches. Some vendors make source-level patches available to their source customers while others only distribute binary patches. Contact your vendor for more information. B4. What other alerts does the CERT Coordination Center publish? (a) CERT vendor-initiated bulletins Vendor-initiated bulletins contain verbatim text from vendors about a security problem relating to their products. They include enough information for readers to determine whether the problem affects them, along with steps readers can take to avoid problems. Our goal in creating these bulletins is to help the vendors' security information get wide distribution quickly. CERT vendor-initiated bulletins are distributed the same way as CERT advisories. They are sent to the cert-advisory mailing list and posted to comp.security.announce. They are archived at ftp://info.cert.org/pub/cert_bulletins/ (b) CERT Summary The CERT Summary calls attention to the types of attacks currently being reported to the CERT Coordination Center. The summary also contains a list of new or updated files in our FTP archive. Summaries are published 4-6 times a year. Like advisories and vendor-initiated bulletins, they are sent to the cert-advisory mailing list and posted to comp.security.announce. They are archived at ftp://info.cert.org/pub/cert_summaries/ B5. What mailing lists does the CERT Coordination Center offer? (a) CERT advisory mailing list The CERT Coordination Center maintains a mailing list for those members of our constituency who do not have access to USENET news or who would like to have advisories, bulletins, and the CERT Summary mailed directly to them or to a mail exploder at their site. If you would like to be added to the CERT mailing list, please send email to cert-advisory-request@cert.org You will receive confirmation mail when you have been placed on the list. (b) CERT tools mailing list The purpose of this moderated mailing list is to encourage the exchange of information on security tools and techniques. The list should not be used for security problem reports. Note that the CERT Coordination Center does not formally review, evaluate, or endorse the tools and techniques described. The decision to use a tool or technique is the responsibility of each user or organization, and we encourage each organization to thoroughly evaluate new tools and techniques before installing or using them. Membership is restricted to system programmers, system administrators, and others with a legitimate interest in the development of computer security tools. If you would like to be considered for inclusion, please send mail to cert-tools-request@cert.org You will receive confirmation mail when you have been placed on the list. B6. What information is available via anonymous FTP from the CERT Coordination Center? The CERT Coordination Center has a variety of computer security information available from ftp://info.cert.org/pub/ The 01-README file contains a short description of each directory, as well as the files that are at the /pub level of the FTP area. The file "ls-lR" lists the subdirectories and the files found in those subdirectories. Examples of what you will find in the /pub directory are listed below. FIRST/ This directory contains contact information for members of the Forum of Incident Response Teams (FIRST), listed according to the constituency they serve. (Additional information on FIRST is available from http://www.first.org/first.) cert_advisories/ In this directory are all the CERT advisories released since the CERT Coordination Center was established in December 1988. README files associated with individual advisories contain updated information and clarifications. cert_bulletins/ This directory contains CERT vendor-initiated bulletins, which we started publishing in late 1994. The bulletins include text written by vendors about security problems and solutions related to their platforms and systems. ietf/ This directory contains the output of several Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) working groups. It includes the Site Security Handbook (RFC 1244) and Guidelines for the Secure Operation of the Internet (RFC 1281). papers/ This directory contains postscript (.ps) versions of papers by Bill Cheswick, Steve Bellovin, and others, along with the original announcement of the cert-tools mailing list. tech_tips/ This directory contains practical advice on topics such as anonymous FTP configurations and packet filtering. It also contains security checklists, which system administrators can use to assess and improve the security of their sites. tools/ This directory contains software packages such as COPS, Crack, and Tripwire. It includes daemon wrappers, virus-detection programs, MD5, and the text of RFC 1321. whois_how_to This file contains instructions for using the InterNIC whois databases to find the point of contact for an Internet site. B7. What presentations, workshops, and seminars does the CERT Coordination Center offer? (a) Presentations Throughout the year, members of the CERT Coordination Center give presentations at various technical conferences, seminars, and regional networks. Periodically, special arrangements can be made to tailor presentations to fit the requirements of the specific site. For further information regarding presentations, please contact the CERT Coordination Center. (Contact information is in section A.2.) (b) Workshops From 1989 to 1992 the CERT Coordination Center hosted and co-sponsored the annual FIRST Workshop on Incident Handling. CERT staff has continued to participate in subsequent workshops. For further information about the FIRST Workshop on Incident Handling, please contact the CERT Coordination Center or refer to http://www.first.org/first/ (c) Seminars (1) Internet Security for Managers Description: This seminar helps managers understand what needs to be done to ensure that their computer systems and networks are as securely managed as possible when operating within the Internet community. Attendees will be provided with information that will enable them to formulate realistic security policies, procedures, and programs specific to their operating environment. Audience: This seminar is designed for managers of computing centers/facilities, individuals tasked to evaluate/initiate Internet connectivity, for senior system administrators, and for others interested in computer security within the Internet community. (2) Internet Security for System and Network Administrators Description: The information presented in this seminar is based on incidents reported to the CERT Coordination Center. Topics include fundamental security practices for UNIX system administration, the latest information network security, and establishing an appropriate site security policy. Audience: This seminar is designed for practitioners (UNIX system and network administrators) who need to build and maintain trustworthy network systems, for UNIX system programmers, and for practitioners who evaluate or initiate Internet connectivity. Some system administrator experience is assumed. B8. Where can I get information about firewalls? (a) Firewalls mailing list The Firewalls mailing list is a discussion forum for firewall administrators and implementors. To subscribe to Firewalls, send mail to Majordomo@GreatCircle.COM In the body of the message, put only subscribe firewalls (b) Firewalls digest The Firewalls digest is a compilation of messages from the Firewalls mailing list. To subscribe to the Firewalls digest, send mail to Majordomo@GreatCircle.COM In the body of the message, put only subscribe firewalls-digest Compressed back issues are available from ftp://FTP.GreatCircle.COM/pub/firewalls/digest/ B9. Where can I get information about viruses? (a) VIRUS-L mailing list VIRUS-L is a moderated mailing list with a focus on computer virus issues. For more information, including a copy of the posting guidelines, see ftp://cs.ucr.edu/pub/virus-l/virus-l.README To be added to the mailing list, send mail to listserv@lehigh.edu In the body of the message, put nothing more than SUB VIRUS-L your name The current archive site for virus-l is ftp://cs.ucr.edu/pub/ This site contains digests of the mailing list, 1988-present. In addition, there is a directory containing anti-virus tools. Back digests of the virus-l mailing list 1988-1993 are also available from ftp://info.cert.org/pub/virus-l/ (b) comp.virus The comp.virus newsgroup is a moderated newsgroup. For more information, including a copy of the posting guidelines, see ftp://info.cert.org/pub/virus-l/virus-l.README Note: The CERT Coordination Center focuses primarily on vulnerabilities in networked systems that intruders can exploit. Viruses, though they may be transmitted over a network, are generally outside the current scope of our work. However, we are interested in hearing reports of UNIX or other mainframe viruses and about worms that could propagate via the Internet. B10. What other online sources does the CERT Coordination Center recommend? (a) USENET newsgroups The archive of FAQs for USENET groups can be a good source of information. These FAQs are available from http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/FAQ-List.html Among the security related newsgroups are the following: (1) comp.security.announce The comp.security.announce newsgroup is moderated and is used solely for the distribution of CERT advisories. (2) comp.security.misc The comp.security.misc newsgroup is a forum for the discussion of computer security, especially as it relates to the UNIX operating system. (3) alt.security The alt.security newsgroup is also a forum for the discussion of computer security, as well as other security topics (such as car locks and alarm systems). (4) comp.virus The comp.virus newsgroup is a moderated newsgroup with a focus on computer virus issues. (5) comp.risks The comp.risks newsgroup is a moderated forum on the risks to the public in computers and related systems. (b) Mailing lists A list of publicly accessible mailing lists is available from http://www.neosoft.com/internet/paml/ (c) NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) Computer Security Bulletin Board Information posted on the bboard includes an events calendar, software reviews, publications, bibliographies, lists of organizations, and other government bulletin board numbers. This bboard contains no sensitive (unclassified or classified) information. If you have any questions, contact NIST by phone at 301-975-3359; by FAX at 301-590-0932; or by email at csrc@csrc.ncsl.nist.gov. NIST also has a web site at http://cs-www.ncsl.nist.gov (d) Web pages New information is constantly being made available online, particularly on the World Wide Web. If you have access to a web browser or other search engine, we urge you to query for security-related topics. B11. What books or articles does the CERT Coordination Center recommend? [Bishop 87] Bishop, Matt. "How to Write a Setuid Program." ;login: 12, 1 (Jan/Feb 1987): 5-12. [Cheswick 94] Cheswick, William R.; Bellovin, Steven M. Firewalls and Internet Security: Repelling the Wily Hacker. New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1994. [Curry 90] Curry, Dave. "Improving the Security of Your UNIX System" (Technical Report ITSTD-721-FR-90-21). Menlo Park, CA: SRI International, April 1990. [Curry 92] Curry, David A. UNIX System Security: A Guide for Users and System Administrators. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Inc., 1992. (ISBN 0-201-56327-4) [Denning 91] Denning, Peter J., ed. Computers Under Attack: Intruders, Worms, and Viruses. ACM Press, New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1990. (ISBN 0-201-53067-8) [Ellis 94] Ellis, Jim; Fraser, Barbara; Pesante, Linda. "Keeping Internet Intruders Away." UNIX Review 12, 9 (September 1994): 35-44. [Farrow 91] Farrow, Rik. How to Protect Your Data and Prevent Intruders: UNIX System Security. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1991. (ISBN 0-201-57030-0) [Fithen 94] Fithen, Katherine; Fraser, Barbara. "CERT Incident Response and the Internet." Communications of the ACM 37, 8 (August 1994): 108-113. [Garfinkel and Spafford 91] Garfinkel, Simson; Spafford, Gene. Practical UNIX Security. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., [1994] c1991. (ISBN 0-937175-72-2) [Grampo and Morris 84] Grampo, M.; Morris, R.T. "UNIX Operating System Security." AT&T Technical Journal 63, 8 (Oct 1984): 1649-1672. [Hafner and Markoff 91] Hafner, Katie; Markoff, John. Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. [Morris and Thompson 79] Morris, R.T.; Thompson, K. "Password Security: A Case History." Communications of the ACM 22, 11 (November 1979): 594-597. [Nemeth, Snyder, and Seebass 89] Nemeth, Evi; Snyder, Garth; Seebass, Scott. UNIX System Administration Handbook. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1989. (ISBN 0-13-933441-6) [Stoll 89] Stoll, Clifford. The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage. New York, NY: Doubleday, 1989. (ISBN 0-385-24946-2) [Wood and Kochran 86] Wood, Patrick; Kochran, Stephen. UNIX System Security. Hasbrouck Heights, NJ: Haden Books, 1986. ======================================================================= = Section C. Incident Response = ======================================================================= C1. What kind of information should I provide to the CERT staff when my site has had an intrusion? The CERT Coordination Center would like as much information as possible, including opinions and thoughts as to how the break-in occurred. Some specifics include: 1) names of host(s) compromised at your site 2) account name(s) compromised 3) architecture and OS (operating system and revision) of compromised host(s) 4) whether or not security patches have been applied to the compromised host(s); if so, were patches applied before or after the intrusion 5) other host(s)/site(s) involved in the intrusion and whether or not you have already contacted those site(s) about the intrusion 6) if other site(s) have been contacted, the contact information used for contacting the site(s) involved 7) if CERT staff members are to contact the other site(s), may we give the other sites your contact information (i.e., your name, email address, and phone number) 8) whether or not any law enforcement agencies have been contacted 9) appropriate log extracts (including timestamps) 10) what assistance you would like from the CERT Coordination Center Incident reporting form The CERT staff has developed an incident reporting form in an effort to facilitate our interaction with members of the Internet community. Note that our policy is to keep confidential any information you provide unless we receive your permission to release that information. The form is located at ftp://info.cert.org/pub/incident.reporting.form Copyright 1995 Carnegie Mellon University This material may be reproduced and distributed without permission provided it is used for noncommercial purposes and the copyright statement is included. CERT is a service mark of Carnegie Mellon University. The CERT Coordination Center is sponsored by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). The Software Engineering Institute is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense.